


the tiger and the dragon

by kawx



Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: And Lots of It, Dean's good too, F/F, M/M, MMA, Mixed Martial Arts, Multi, Seth's good, Violence, back street brawling, street fighting au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-24
Updated: 2015-06-22
Packaged: 2018-02-10 07:22:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2016129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kawx/pseuds/kawx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Know your enemy and know yourself and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster.” </p>
<p>A tiger will hide behind its stripes when it so wishes, a tiger will bide his time until it is time to strike. A dragon will spread its wings for all to see, a dragon will breathe fire upon whoever he so wants. </p>
<p>This tiger hasn’t appeared for a while, and this dragon wants to lure him out, this dragon wants to tear away his stripes. </p>
<p>or</p>
<p>back street brawl ambrollins au where seth should really be careful what he wishes for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> ok so i shouldn't be starting another fic but hey ho this happened and yeah i really like this. no long ass notes this time but do enjoy and feel free to drop me a comment here or at my tumblr, psychrollins!

When Seth’s fist collides with the jaw of his opponent, he knows that he’s won it. The guy, - Brad or something – falls to the floor in a heap of limbs, sweat and blood and stays there for the ten count. The crowd in the warehouse chant his name, chant the amount of guys he’s knocked out with his right hook and yeah, Seth feels pretty fucking good about himself right now.

 

“Y’know, it’s a wonder anyone bothers to even challenge you anymore.” Punk throws a towel at Seth and grins at him. Seth wipes the blood from his face before laughing at his best friend.

 

“Yeah well, I guess some guys are just really fucking stupid.” And maybe Seth’s a little bit cocky, but he knows it’s sort of true. He’s never actually lost a fight, he’s never been hospitalised and he’s never, ever, been out for the ten count. So Punk’s right when he says that he’s unsure of why people still even bother, because it always ends up the same. Seth always wins, and the streak is never broken.

 

If Seth thinks about it, - and he often does – he could have taken his unruly fists and used them in a more _productive_ way. Not that he doesn’t enjoy just beating any random guy to a bloody pulp, because he really does, but well he could have probably made a lot of money out of it too. But that’s always been the problem, money.

 

His father had sent him to that mixed martial arts class when he was seven just so Seth would have something to do while he and Seth’s mother were at work. His father hadn’t expected him to get really into it, but was pretty pleased when he did. Seth did mixed martial arts until he was eighteen, and by that time, Seth was pretty damn good.

 

But it turns out, making it big in the sport is pretty expensive. Not only did Seth need a proper trainer – which, why did they have to charge obscene amounts of money per week? – but he also needed to travel the country in hope of getting a few good gigs and for his name to actually mean anything. And Seth just couldn’t afford it, especially with his father losing his job and his mothers hospital treatments. So Seth let that dream fly away with the wind and has been working in a dead end job ever since.

 

The street fighting, well that happened by accident. And it wouldn’t have happened if that random girl hadn’t hit on him in that bar. That was all it took, a girl hit on him and her boyfriend disliked it. And Seth knew he shouldn’t have risen to the bait, because the guy obviously just wanted to pick a fight with somebody, but his fist acted on instinct. He knocked the guy right out and he scarpered before anyone had time to understand what was going on.

 

A few days later, Seth met Punk for the first time. He came into the music shop that Seth was working at and asked him out right whether he liked to fight. And Seth – in a round about way – said yes. And from there on out, Seth and Punk have been street fighting together. And maybe one day he’ll stop, when he’s defeated nearly every street fighter he knows, but for the time being; he’s pretty happy with knocking people out nearly every night.

 

“You’ve pretty much defeated everyone we know.” Seth shakes his head at Punk as he spits blood onto the floor.

 

“Not everybody.”

 

Punk rolls his eyes, “Nobody’s seen Mox in a long time, Seth. He never responded to Dolph when he called him out and words out that he’s not going to show himself again. So maybe that’s one guy you’ll just have to not defeat.” Seth shrugs, not wanting to get into this with Punk again and pulls his t-shirt over his head.

 

“Hey Seth!” From behind Punk, two girls appear and Seth forces himself to smile. He should like all the female attention he gets when he wins a fight, but he’s always preferred male attention.

 

“That was a great fight.” The small blonde one says, twirling a strand of hair around her finger in an attempt to look sexy. It doesn’t work, but Seth thanks her for her kind words anyway.

 

“A group of us are heading to the bar across town, we were wondering if you wanted to come along and celebrate your win?” The redhead smiles at him and he does almost take her up on the offer when he notices a cute guy standing in the group she pointed to, but in the end he declines.

 

“I’d love to but, I have work early in the morning and I’m an awful person if I don’t get a few hours sleep.” The redhead totally doesn’t get that that was all some made up story to avoid going out with her and her friends and she says something about a next time, and Seth nods just because he’s feeling polite.

 

The truth is, Seth would much rather go home and have a beer on his own than go to the bar where girls who’ve seen him fight basically try ride his dick then and there.

 

He says his goodbyes to Punk and grabs his bag before exiting the warehouse.

 

If there’s anyone that Seth really wants to beat, it’s Mox. And the day he beats him, is the day he’ll probably give up all of this back street brawling and try to settle down.

 

This, _need_ , to beat Mox started when a guy at a fight made an off handed comment about Seth being a lot like Mox, aggressive and unbeatable. There’d been murmurs from then on, about how people would _pay_ to see Mox and Seth go one on one with other. Neither had been beaten, both had clean streaks and well, there was the guarantee. A streak would be broken that night.

 

But the problem is, nobody knows anything about the guy. Mox is the only name anybody knows, and nobody knows what he looks like, because he’s always worn a mask during his fights. He never sets the fights up himself, it’s either Sami’s job or he responds to challenges set by others. And unless it’s his fight, he doesn’t turn up. He won’t watch any other fights and he most definitely doesn’t talk. And for about a year now, Mox hasn’t responded to any challenges set by others. And it’s the main reason Seth hasn’t called him out yet, because word is, Mox is holding out until there’s actually someone worth fighting.

 

Most of the guys that have called him out have had the gall to make him accept a deal. If they win, he must take his mask off. And so it began; the ultimate challenge to damask Mox. As of yet, nobody’s come close to revealing what’s hidden beneath the mask.  And Seth would be lying if he didn’t want to be the one to finally unmask him, because it’s like, like unmasking Batman or Spiderman or something. And it would awesome to finally find out what’s hiding under there. There were rumours, and although Seth doesn’t usually listen to anything unless he knows it’s true, the rumour that Mox where’s a mask because of a horrible face deformation has always stuck in the back of his head.

 

When Seth gets back to his apartment, he tries to ignore the loud silence that hangs heavy around him. He studies himself in the mirror hanging above the telephone table and sighs when he catches sight of the bruise forming around his eye and his swollen lip. He’ll have to explain to his boss once again that no, he’s not being knocked about by his _non-existent_ boyfriend and it really was just a silly fight in a bar. He’ll go back to doing work in the storerooms until the bruise fades enough so that customers don’t ask questions.

 

It’s his life, and has been for the past year and a half. He gets up, goes to work, goes to the gym, has a fight and goes to bed. Seth knows he’d probably enjoy his life a little more if he had someone to come home to, someone to patch up his wounds and kiss his bruises better. But Seth’s tried dating, many, many times in fact – because Punk just loves to set him up with guys he knows would be into Seth – but the whole “I enjoy punching the shit out of people for the fun of it” is apparently a big turn off. And well, Seth can’t bear to think about being with someone who didn’t accept him fully, so he just stopped trying.

 

Shaking his head and laughing at the reflection in the mirror, Seth tosses his gym bag into the closet and decides to deal with it in the morning. He changes into a fresh pair of gym shorts and flops down onto his bed. He tries to ignore the coldness of the pillow against his swollen face and closes his eyes.

 

xXx

 

“Dude, you literally just missed the turning for the gym.”

 

Punk laughs and rolls his eyes before turning to look at Seth, momentarily taking in the purple bruise on the side of his face.

 

“I told you, we’re trying another gym. I hate Cena’s man, and I met this guy called Roman a few weeks ago and he and his mate have a Cross Fit, told us to come along and try it out.” Seth nods and the good side of his mouth quirks into a smile.

 

“So, where’d you meet this, Roman guy?” Punk looks back towards the road and tries hard to hide the small blush forming on his cheeks.

 

“At a bar.”

 

Seth hums, giving Punk a sideways look and catches the small glint in his eyes and decides to just drop it for now. Punk’s not always been the best when it comes to dealing with his feelings, especially when it comes to finding a guy attractive. When Punk wants to admit it, he will, but Seth will leave it for now.

 

Seth turns the radio on for the rest of the ride, and doesn’t say anything when Punk checks himself in the mirror before getting out of the car. The gym is located in the middle of a busy street and Seth stares up at the sign that says ‘Regal’s’ before following Punk inside. The inside is bright and airy and much, much nicer than Cena’s gym.

 

“Punk, you made it,” Seth’s turns his attention back to Punk who’s now been joined by a rather large and rather beautiful man with a low, throaty rumble for a voice. And yeah, he totally gets why Punk wanted to swap gyms.

 

“Sure did, Roman this is the guy I was telling you about, Seth.”

 

Roman flicks his gaze over to Seth and gives him the once over, eyes finally landing on his face.

 

“Seth, yeah I’ve heard about you, never been beaten right?” Roman offers Seth his hand and Seth shakes it and tries to suppress the feeling to just laugh out loud, he’s like, known for his fighting, since when?

 

“Nope, never.” Roman smiles at that and then turns to a guy clearing up some equipment.

 

“Hey Drake, where’s Dean?” The guy – Drake – looks at Roman before wiping some sweat from his forehead.

 

“I think he went out back to do some paper work or something, haven’t seen him for about an hour,” Roman clasps Drake on the shoulder and says a quiet thank you before motioning for Punk and Seth to follow him.

 

“I’ll introduce you to Dean, he owns the place. And I can assure you, when someone says Dean’s doing paperwork, he’s most definitely not doing paperwork.” Roman laughs as he leads the two of them through the gym and towards the back. Roman wraps his knuckles on the door to what looks like an office and leans into it, “Dean, you in there?”

 

“Yeah, come in Rome.” Roman pushes the door open and steps inside, holding it open to let Punk and Seth into the room. Dean, who’s sitting at a computer desk with his feet propped up on the table while happily eating a bowl of cereal, looks up at them and smiles. Seth’s momentarily blindsides, because this guy has fucking _dimples._

 

“Drake said you were doing paperwork,” Roman crosses his arms over his chest and looks at the man in front of him with such a fond look that Seth has to bite his cheek to stop him from giggling like a fucking little girl. Dean looks up at Roman through his lashes with a spoon full of cereal in front of his mouth and smiles – and Seth swears the whole room illuminates too because it’s such a beautiful sight – before shoving the spoon into his mouth and saying,

 

“I am.” He chews slowly, smirking at Roman before setting the bowl on the table. “The computer was taking the fucking piss to load and I was hungry.” Dean shrugs and removes his feet from the table and sits up properly. Roman rolls his eyes and hums, so the computer almost always took ten minutes to load, but Dean just couldn’t sit still for any period of time.

 

“Yeah, whatever Ambrose. Anyway, this is Punk and Seth, the guys I was telling you about the other day,” Roman says, and Dean’s eyes settle on Seth almost immediately. Seth shifts a little under his gaze, feeling the heat rise to his cheeks.

 

“Yeah, Seth Rollins, right? Mr Unbeatable.” Seth’s brow creases a little; he’s not sure how everyone seems to know about him. He gets that this streak of his is makes him pretty popular among the regulars, but he didn’t that people he’d never met before knew about him. Before he can respond though, Dean’s out of his seat and standing right in front of him, his hands gently touching the purple bruise on the side of his face. Dean whistles quietly and tilts Seth’s head to the side carefully to get a better view.

 

“Got quite the shiner there Seth, Maddox do that?” Dean tilts Seth’s face back towards him but doesn’t move his fingers from his chin. Seth’s not quite sure how Dean would know that, because he definitely wasn’t at the fight last night, he’s pretty sure he’d remember someone so, someone so _striking._

 

“Yeah, how’d you know?” Dean’s lips quirk into a smile, showing off those dimples again, and looks Seth right in the eyes.

 

“Maddox has a thing for trying to fuck up pretty faces.” Dean presses his fingers into Seth’s scruffy beard for just a second longer before removing them and stepping back to lean against the desk. And Seth tries really hard not to think about the fact that this guy had possibly just called him _pretty_ and tries to think about something else.

 

Punk and Dean are in the middle of a conversation about the Maddox fight when Seth’s phone rings loudly from the pocket of his gym shorts, and he quickly leaves the room to answer it.

 

“Hey Seth, its Layla,” Seth leans against the wall to the office with the phone pressed to the side of his face.

 

“Hey Layla, you alright?”

 

“Yeah, little tired from running around after Summer but yeah, good. How are you? Heard you beat Brad last night,”

 

“Summer still sick? Shouldn’t she like, go to the doctor or something? And yeah, I did by the way.” Seth smiles, thinking about Summer spread out on the couch looking like death warmed up. It was funny really, Summer always had to look her best and well, she never looked good when she was ill.

 

“She is, but I’m pretty sure she’s playing it up as an excuse for us to do nothing but cuddle all day, she says the doctors not necessary,” Layla laughs slightly before sighing. “Anyway, I rang you because Johnny wants to fight you tonight.” Seth clicks his tongue, ah, _Johnny._ Johnny Curtis was his sort of long standing, annoying enemy. He was a good fighter and had a killer right hook, but he was also a cocky son of a bitch. Johnny always said he could beat Seth, but every time they fight, Johnny always ends up on the floor for the ten count. And sometimes Seth wishes that Johnny would just _quit_ trying to beat him and move onto someone else, but at the same time, Seth’s glad he’s got someone he can fight whenever he feels like it, because Johnny’s always up for a fight.

 

“He couldn’t have like, given me a bit more notice or something?”

 

Layla sighs, “You know what he’s like Seth, he beats a guy and suddenly he’s the best of the best and he wants to fight you again. You in?” Seth thinks it over for a moment, his face is still sore and he could do without any more bruises to his face; but Seth never backs down from a fight. Especially when it’s Johnny, because Johnny will take it that Seth is scared – and Seth is most definitely not scared of Johnny fucking Curtis.

 

“I’m in. Just tell me the time and the place and I’ll be there,” Seth says as Roman, Punk and Dean leave the office.

 

“Sarano warehouse on 5th street, eleven o’clock. Good luck Seth, I’ll be there if I can sneak away from Summer.”

 

“Alright, thanks Layla. Sarano’s at eleven. Say hi to Summer for me.” Layla says her goodbyes and ends the call, Punk frowns at Seth for a moment as he shoves his phone back into his pocket.

 

“Really Seth, you’re gonna fight tonight after almost having your face smashed in last night?” Punk crosses his arms over his chest and tries hard to look at him like a scolding parent, but Seth never could take him seriously.

 

“For starters, I did not almost get my face smashed in, this is just a fucking bruise. And it’s only fucking Johnny Curtis, I’ve beat him for times than I care to count; it’s nothing, just a bit of fun.” Seth says, rolling his eyes at Punk and following them down the corridor.

 

When they reach the gym again, there’s a man standing at the desk and when he sees Dean, he beckons him over. Dean turns to Seth with a small smile on face and his hand reaches out to grasp Seth’s shoulder.

 

“Eleven at Sarano’s, I’ll be there.”

 

xXx

The ref – _but not actually a ref_ – stands between Johnny and Seth, keeping them apart while he counts down from three. When he reaches one, he quickly jumps out of the way, and Seth is the first to throw a punch. It his Johnny perfectly on the jaw and it sends him stumbling backwards. He can already see the regret written all over Johnny’s face and Seth knows Johnny will think twice before asking him to fight again.

 

Taking advantage of a stumbling Johnny, Seth throws another right hook to the other side of his face and sends a perfectly aimed kick to his mid section. Blood spurts out of his mouth and he doubles over onto the floor. The ref steps in and holds Seth back so he can begin the ten count. Seth has to hand it to Johnny, he gets up on the count of four and tries his hardest to try and gain some momentum. But if Seth’s learnt anything from all this brawling, it’s to never, ever, give anybody the chance to regain control. So he doesn’t.

 

Seth doesn’t falter once, and Johnny barely manages to get a punch in. Johnny’s gotten up three times at the count of eight, and this time, when Seth puts all his force behind his right hook; Johnny doesn’t even stir when the ref reaches the ten. As soon as the ref announces Seth as the winner, Punk’s at his side, slapping him on the back.

 

“Jesus Seth, he didn’t even get to touch you!” Roman says, coming up behind Punk. Punk smiles up at Roman with a grin that sort of says, _I told you he was good,_ and Seth has to laugh at that. Dean joins them once he’s wiped some of Johnny’s blood from his stomach, and he stands leaning against the wall looking at Seth through lidded eyes. He’s smirking, eyes raking over Seth’s body appreciatively. Seth smirks a little himself and turns himself towards Dean.

 

“Impressed?” Seth raises an eyebrow at Dean as he pulls on his t-shirt. Dean makes a show of looking annoyed at the sudden amount of clothing clinging to Seth’s body before smirking again.

 

“ _Very Impressed.”_


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You don’t talk much, do you?”
> 
>  
> 
> Seth smiles sheepishly, picking at the label on his beer. “Sorry, I just, I do normally, sometimes my mouth doesn’t know when to shut the fuck up, guess it just doesn’t feel like talking tonight.”
> 
>  
> 
> “Something bothering you?”
> 
>  
> 
> Seth shrugs, “I dunno, I guess seeing Punk finally like, admit his feelings or whatever, just brought up a lot of stuff I thought I’d buried.” Seth sighs, Antonio’s face making an appearance in the back of his head. “Just stupid ex bullshit y’know? I’ll be alright, just a few more beers and I’ll probably talk your ear off.”
> 
>  
> 
> Dean orders two more beers and then turns to Seth and grins, “I have no problem with that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello all! thank you for all the lovely kudos you've given me, you're all like really wonderful! i know i should have probably updated comatose before i updated this, but this sort of just had to be updated because my brain wouldn't let me focus on anything else. if you're interested, the sort of 'anthem' for this fic is move by thousand foot krutch and you should totally go listen to that. you can also go to my tumblr, which is psychrollins if you have any questions or comments in general or if you just want to rant about ambrollins! but for now, enjoy some punk and roman (someone come up with a name for those two little shits!) and some ambrollins!

Seth’s just finishing his shift at the store when Punk pulls up outside with Summer and Layla in the back of his car. He waits until the clock hits five before going to the back to clock out. He tries to be quiet, because he knows that if Kaitlyn sees Punk’s car, she’s going to drill into him again.

 

Seth likes his co-worker, he really does, but he really wishes she’d stop butting into his business and assuming things. Because he doesn’t know how many times he’s going to have to tell her that Punk is not his boyfriend and he’s definitely not the one putting the bruises on his face.

 

His efforts are in vain though, and Kaitlyn rounds the corner and leans in the doorway with an ice cold glare.

 

“You know, if I didn’t respect your damn privacy so damn much, I’d have called the cops on that boyfriend of yours by now.”

 

“How many times Kaitlyn, Punk is definitely not my boyfriend, and he did not give me this – or any other – bruises. He never has, just stupid bar fights, ok?” Seth slings his bag over his shoulder and lets his hands settle on his friends shoulders. She looks up at him with sad eyes and he tries to smile.

 

“Maybe you should try a different bar then, donut.” Seth huffs out a laugh and pulls her in for a hug.

 

“I like that bar. Look, I’m fine ok. Don’t you worry about me,” Seth gives her his best smile and presses a gentle kiss to her forehead before sliding past her.

 

When he finally gets into the front seat of Punk’s car, he’s almost strangled when Summer throws her arms around his neck from the backseat.

 

“Hey stranger!”

 

“Hey Summer, you finally feeling better?” Seth asks, letting Summer lean over and kiss his temple. Punk huffs out a laugh and shakes his head as he starts the car back up.

 

“Yep, Layla took very good care of me,” Summer says when she’s done strangling Seth, she sits back on her seat and sinks into Layla’s side.

 

“I’m sure she did,” Seth smirks and Summer smacks his arm lightly, “So where are we going? Cos’ I’m starving.”

 

“That sandwich bar on seventh street, you know the one that Layla really likes,” Punk keeps his eyes on the road as he talks, but brings one hand up to scratch at the scruff of his beard. Seth notices then, that Punk’s wearing nicer clothes than he normally would when they went out to eat after work. Instead of his usual faded t-shirt and sweat pants, Punk’s wearing his best pair of gym shorts and a slightly tight fitting t-shirt. Summer’s rambling about how Layla can make a mean chicken soup, so Seth doesn’t bring it up.

 

They’ve been to this sandwich bar a handful of times and Seth already knows what he’s going to order when he sits down at a booth. Layla loves it because it’s heavily influenced by Japanese culture, and that’s sort of her calling, but the foods good so nobody really protests when Layla asks to go there.

 

When the waitress has taken their orders, Seth leans back and looks at Punk again. It’s a rare occasion that Punk swaps his sweats for gym shorts, most of the time he does it to impress somebody, and that’s hardly ever.

 

“I’m guessing by the way you’re dressed, we’re hitting Regal’s after this?” Seth asks, smirking as he plays with the end of his napkin. He’s not looking at Punk, but he can tell that he’s blushing.

 

“How, why would you come to that conclusion?” Punk stutters slightly, and Summer snickers behind her hand.

 

“Because, you hardly ever dress up like that. And face it; you have a thing for that Roman guy.”  Punk’s blush deepens and he doesn’t respond, taking a sip from his soda instead.

 

“Wait, Seth did you say Regal’s? Regal’s gym?” Layla asks, lips curling around her straw.

 

“Yeah, Punk met this guy called Roman at a bar who sort of like owns the place. We swapped because Punk said he hated Cena’s, and he thinks Roman’s cute.”

 

“You do know who’s gym it actually is though, right?” Layla arches an eyebrow at Seth and looks at him like she’s waiting for him to answer, but Seth doesn’t really have a clue what she’s talking about.

 

“C’mon Seth, William Regal!” Layla waves her hands about in a flailing manor, like she really can’t believe that Seth doesn’t know what she’s talking about.

 

“Actually, Roman said something about a Steven Regal.” Punk adds, sipping at his soda. Layla rolls her eyes and gives Punk an annoyed look.

 

“Same person you dumbass. William Regal was the man of Mixed Martial Arts in the nineties, like he conquered everyone, Seth how do you not know this?” Seth shrugs, the name sounds vaguely familiar and he probably did watch a couple of his fights, but Seth had always preferred fighting to actually watching.

 

“Never really watched it, I mean I did it as a kid but never really watched the sport y’know?” Layla rolls her eyes as the waitress sets their food down in front of them.

 

“Whatever, it’s just cool. Not everyone gets to work out at a former _Toughest Man in the World_ competition winner’s gym.” Layla says dramatically. Punk picks at his sandwich for a while before looking up at Seth and saying in a quiet voice,

 

“Roman’s fighting tonight.”

 

Seth smirks and takes a bite from his sandwich, “So, I guess we’re going?”

 

“Yeah,” Punk blushes slightly and looks anywhere but Seth, “Against some guy called Dave Batista, apparently he and his group have some sort of like, long standing shit with him and Ambrose.” Seth nods, having vaguely heard of Roman’s opponent.

 

“We’re going to Regal’s after this and going to the fight with them.”

 

“You like Roman don’t you?”

 

Punk shrugs, though there’s a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “You’re _relentless_ ,” Punk sighs, wiping his hands on his napkin. “Yeah, ok, there might be _feelings_ there, y’know? He’s just sort of, nice.” And Seth totally gets it, totally gets that feeling where someone is just sort of there and really fitting and every time you look at them it’s like there’s no better place to be. Seth remembers Antonio, and then decides he really wish he didn’t.

 

“I get you man,” he says, pushing his ex out of his thoughts and focusing on the fact that Punk, his best friend that never really went out on dates, has a crush on someone. “I can see why y’know, he’s like, really fucking beautiful.”

 

Punk grins, “Well I guess there’s that, too.”

 

“How did you meet this, Roman guy?” Summer asks, her hand stretching out and wiping some food from the corner of Layla’s mouth.

 

“At a bar, I was with this guy called Jey from work and Roman’s his cousin and we met them there. He asked for my number just before I left.” Punk says shrugging, like it’s no big deal, but it totally is.

 

“Enough about me, what about you and Dean?” Punk says smirking and Seth scowls. He knows bringing up any guy in front of Summer and Layla will immediately bring the attention onto him, and yeah, Punk’s a sly bastard.

 

Seth can practically feel the excitement building in Summer next to him as he says, “What about me and Dean?”

 

Punk huffs out a laugh, “Well, you tell me. You know, not like the guy was practically eye fucking you the whole time you were beating Johnny senseless or anything,” Seth shifts uncomfortably, he didn’t know that.

 

“Doesn’t mean there’s anything going on.” Seth mumbles, suddenly becoming very interested in the left overs of his sandwich. Summer gently touches his arm and she smiles softly at him.

 

“Don’t you think it’s time you put yourself back out there, Seth?” She says quietly, while Layla and Punk bicker about the meaning of one of Punk’s tattoos. “It’s been almost a year since Antonio, not all guys are like him,” He knows that she’s right, because Summer always is usually, but even thinking about the shit that Antonio pulled makes his heart ache. Even after a year, he can’t seem to understand how someone can _pretend_ to really fucking love you for seven months.

 

“I know, I’m just, not interested. Like sure if something comes along then yeah I might be into it, but I’m not _looking_ for anything.” Summer gives his arm a gentle squeeze and doesn’t push the matter any further. Seth’s sort of thankful he has his friends in his life, because they’d been the person to catch him when he felt like he falling from the empire state building, and all they really want is for him to be happy. And he sort of is.

 

 

xXx

 

 

Seth can’t actually believe the amount of people who have turned out to see Roman’s fight. He knows these fights have started to become a lot more popular in the recent weeks, but, this is like an actual fight. Like a boxing match or something, because they’re in an old warehouse and there are probably about a hundred people crammed inside, one side clearly is rooting for the other guy, and one side rooting for Roman.

 

Dean’s in the middle of giving Roman a pep talk when a guy – who Seth assumes is a friend of his opponents – strolls over to them with a smirk plastered on his face. When Roman sees him, he growls from deep in his throat and bristles slightly, like a wolf does when danger is near.

 

“Hey, calm down Reigns, I’m not here to start trouble. Just a friendly chat, s’all,” The guys smirk tells Seth that he’s anything but friendly.

 

“Don’t wanna’ talk to you, Randy.” Roman growls again, and Dean has to step in between them, has to keep Roman from going toe to toe with this guy. The guy – Randy – laughs before his eyes settle on Punk, and smirks and tilts his head to the side and gives Punk the once over.

 

“So, that’s your new little boyfriend?” Randy chuckles and Dean has to tighten his grip on Roman. “Y’know, he kind of reminds me of a rat who stumbled out of a colouring book, kind of cute if you ask me.” Randy quickly steps away as Roman’s fist swings for his face and laughs as he retreats to the other side of the warehouse.

 

“Ro, don’t let him get inside your head,” Dean says quietly, fingers digging into the skin of Roman’s shoulders. “You’re over that shit, remember? You got this, Ro.” Roman nods and clenches and unclenches his fists a few times. Seth’s never seen someone look so _ready_ to fight, so ready to just let go and fucking cause chaos.

 

Roman’s just about to turn away – because the ref for tonight, a small, bearded man called Daniel Bryan who is apparently scared of no one, wants to get the match started – when Punk grabs hold of Roman’s wrist. They stand chest to chest for a second, Punk’s not that much shorter than Roman, but Roman’s broad and it makes him seem to tower over him. Punk’s the one to close the gap between them, his hands bracing either side of Roman’s neck. Roman seems momentarily blindsided, before his brain _finally_ catches up and kisses Punk back like his life depends on it, hands gripping onto his waist and pulling him impossibly close.

 

They’re both breathless when Punk breaks the kiss, and Seth doesn’t miss the look of pure bliss that seems to have settled itself on Roman’s face.

 

“Go get em’,” Punk presses his lips against Roman’s once more, more a peck than anything, before he gently pushes him towards the ref.

 

“For the record, you don’t look like a rat who stumbled out of a colouring book,” Dean says to Punk when the ref is announcing the fighters. Punk huffs out a laugh, eyes settling on Randy over the other side of the warehouse and smirks at him.

 

“What a prick.”

 

Dean hums, “You can say that again.”

 

In the centre of the warehouse, Roman and Dave square up to each other. Dave’s the bigger man, rising above him by a few inches, and has a considerable amount of muscle on his body. And Seth really fears that Roman’s going to get hurt, because although he’s big, Dave’s like, really, really big and the look on his face sorta says ‘ _I really don’t care if I snap you in half’._

But when Bryan counts to three and the fight gets under way, Seth decides he shouldn’t have been worried. Because Roman is good, like really good, and even though Dave should really be drilling him into the ground because he’s the bigger man, he can’t pick up any momentum at all. Whenever he sets up a punch or a kick, Roman blocks or counters it somehow. Like he just _knows_ what Dave’s going to do before he’s done it.

 

Dave’s busted open pretty bad, and the blood on his face is like a veil of crimson; looks sort of like the devils bride or something. Seth has to hand it to him though, no matter how many times he’s knocked down, the man gets back up again.

 

He doesn’t get back up again however, when Roman takes a few steps back and then fucking _leaps_ into the air, punching Dave squarely in the face. It’s a beautiful sight, Roman sort of looks like a bird gliding through the air. And when Daniel Bryan gets to ten, and Dave hasn’t moved, Roman just holds his bloodied fist out in front of him and glares at Randy. It probably means something, because Randy bristles before grabbing onto Dave and pulling him to his feet.

 

“This isn’t over Reigns, not by a damn mile, believe that!” Randy shouts as Roman retreats, pushing past a few people who have scarpered over to help Dave to his feet. Roman ignores him and flips him the bird with a grin on his face. Roman brushes off a few people who try to congratulate him, and makes a beeline for Punk. Everyone else seems to disappear when Roman pulls Punk into him, wasting no time in covering his mouth with his own. And Punk doesn’t even seem to care that Roman’s hands are leaving bloody finger marks on his neck, he just wraps his arms around his neck and just seems to _melt_ into Roman.

 

Dean groans, “Oh here we go again, god damn it Roman can you not just like, fucking wait maybe?” Roman flips Dean off, not breaking contact with Punk, and Dean just swats at his hand.

 

“Horny bastard.” Dean says fondly, and Seth has to look away because he feels like he’s intruding on something _very_ private.

 

“He’s like, really good.” Seth says, if anything it’s just to distract himself from the game of tonsil tennis being played beside him. Dean smirks and picks up Roman’s shirt, tossing it at the couple.

 

“Of course he’s good,” Dean laughs, “I taught him how to fight.”

 

“You did?”

 

Dean hums, shrugging a little. “Yeah, I did.”

 

“Dean likes to remind me every time I win, y’know so I don’t forget it or something.” Roman says sarcastically, pulling on his shirt. His lips a red and slightly swollen but he looks elated, like nothing’s going to bring him down from this high that he’s on.

 

“Yeah well, I don’t ever want you to forget who turned you from the boy who said “ _I’ve never been in a real fight,”_ to the man who now says _“Punching the shit out of people makes me really fucking horny,””_ Dean pokes a finger into his chest, and Roman swats him away.

 

“Yeah alright, whatever, twat.”

 

 

xXx

 

 

“You’re quiet.” Punk says to Seth when they’re on their way to the bar once Roman had cleaned himself up, Roman and Dean are walking just a bit in front, chatting about the look on Randy’s face when Dave didn’t make it up after the ten count.

 

“Hm? Sorry, I’m sorta just like, I dunno in my own world or something.” Seth says. It’s true really, he’s sort of just enjoyed watching the night unfold, enjoyed seeing Roman win his fight and Punk finally decide that it’s ok to have feelings and didn’t feel the need to talk at any point.

 

“And I’m sort of like, still shocked that you kissed Roman. Whatever happened to the whole, _“PDA is for asswipes,”_ thing?”

 

Punk laughs and shrugs, a small blush creeping onto his face, “I dunno, I’m sort of shocked at myself too. But, that Randy guy just sort of like got under my skin with the whole rat comment. Like he was sort of trying to say that I wasn’t good enough, so I just kissed Roman to make sure he didn’t think that too.” Seth knows for a fact that even if Roman had thought that before – which he obviously didn’t, with the way he sort of just looked at Punk with hearts in his eyes – he definitely didn’t think that now.

 

“Well Roman seemed to enjoy it,” Seth flashes Punk a smile, and gets his shoulder shoved in reply.

 

It’s way past midnight now, but Seth doesn’t feel tired, and he doesn’t have an early shift in the morning, so when Roman suggested they grab a beer, Seth didn’t say no. The bars busy, for late on a Wednesday night slash Thursday morning, but they sit at the bar and order a couple of beers. He’s sat next to Dean, with Punk and Roman sat just a little away from him on his other side, and he suddenly gets why Dean said that Roman was a horny bastard. Because he can’t keep his hands – or his lips, for that matter – off of him. It’s sort of adorable, really.

 

“He gets like this every time he wins a fight.” Dean says, bringing his beer to his lips and taking a swig – and Seth tries really hard not to watch his lips wrap around the rim of the bottle.

 

“Like what?”

 

“Handsy, horny, whatever the fuck he wants to call it. S’like all the adrenalin or something just like, goes straight to his cock. Usually has to go home and take care of himself, though.” Dean laughs, “Bit of a sadistic fucker, getting a hard on after beating someone half to death, but sorta why I keep him around.”

 

“Punk won’t ever admit it, but that shit turns him on too.” Seth says, laughing when Roman finally has enough of keeping things PG and pulling Punk away from the bar. Well, there goes his ride home.

 

“Glad he’s got someone though, it’s been a while for him,” Dean’s voice is a slow, soft murmer, and it sort of reverberates around Seth’s brain, all melodic and beautiful.

 

“Yeah, yeah they’re good together.” Dean sets his beer bottle down, resting his elbow on the bar and letting his head rest on his fist, head turned towards Seth.

 

“You don’t talk much, do you?”

 

Seth smiles sheepishly, picking at the label on his beer. “Sorry, I just, I do normally, sometimes my mouth doesn’t know when to shut the fuck up, guess it just doesn’t feel like talking tonight.”

 

“Something bothering you?”

 

Seth shrugs, “I dunno, I guess seeing Punk finally like, admit his feelings or whatever, just brought up a lot of stuff I thought I’d buried.” Seth sighs, Antonio’s face making an appearance in the back of his head. “Just stupid ex bullshit y’know? I’ll be alright, just a few more beers and I’ll probably talk your ear off.”

 

Dean orders two more beers and then turns to Seth and grins, “I have no problem with that.”

 

 

xXx

 

Dean ends up walking Seth home, no matter how many times Seth tells him he’s not that drunk, he can walk himself, Dean insists. It’s almost three in the morning, and Seth is really fucking glad he doesn’t have to be in work until the afternoon, because he knows he’s going to be hungover as fuck in the morning.

 

The worlds sort of spinning in front of his eyes and his legs feel like they’re not even attached to his body, and he’s pretty sure he’d be sprawled across the floor if wasn’t for the strong arm around his waist.

 

Dean and Seth had in fact, had more than just a couple more bears. And Seth had indeed talked like a fucking maniac, but Dean never seemed to mind, just sort of grinned and indulged in Seth’s humour.

 

They manage to get back to Seth’s apartment in once piece, and Seth fumbles for his keys from his pockets.

 

“Thanks for walking me home,” Seth mumbles quietly, feeling like his eyes were ready to close on him. Dean was standing right in front of him, sort of making sure Seth didn’t fall backwards or something. He’s so close, and Seth sort of has this big urge to just kiss him, but the grounds moving and he decides that he’s probably embarrassed himself for one night. Drunk Seth is a sort of wise Seth, sometimes.

 

“Don’t mention it,” Dean says, and once Seth’s finally unlocked the door, he takes a few steps away from him. “You’re coming to the gym tomorrow, right?” He asks. Seth steps inside and stands in the doorway and smiles slightly.

 

“Course.”

 

“Good. See you tomorrow, then. Night Seth.”

 

“Night Dean.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean’s lying next to him, and it’s way past midnight now and he can feel Dean’s fingers tracing patterns on his hand. Osamu is curled up at their feet. 
> 
> “This is nice, haven’t seen the stars like this for a while.” Seth whispers, aware that nearly all of the others are asleep. 
> 
> “Roman and I come most weekends, just to get away for a bit. And Osamu likes the beach, too.” The two are silent again, before Dean slips his hand into Seth’s. 
> 
> “Night Seth.” 
> 
> “Night Dean.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just a quick authors note to say thank you thank you thank you for all the kind words and reviews and kudos you've given me for my work. much love, and enjoy! - my tumblr is psychrollins and open to prompts!

“So, are you going to tell me about last night or am I going to have to beat it out of you?” Seth says to Punk, who’s sitting at his breakfast bar with his head resting against the counter. Punk groans, and Seth passes him some juice. Seth got back from his afternoon shift an hour ago, and Punk had knocked on his door almost immediately.

 

“Why does he have to be so pretty, and so nice? Seth help me, I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

 

Seth sighs and sits opposite his friend and smacks him upside the head. “Listen you goofball, I know you have like this complex where you don’t like getting attached to people, let alone guys or some shit, but you have to just, let it happen. You like him, like a lot because you actually went home with him – you did, right?” Punk rubs at his head, glaring, before nodding. Seth arches an eyebrow expectantly. He’s going to get the details out of his friend, even if they have to sit here all day.

 

“Nothing like serious happened, maybe a blowjob or two.” Punk mumbles, scratching at the back of his neck.

 

“And then?”

 

“And then we kissed a bit more, and maybe we cuddled before we fell asleep.” A soft, small smile tugs at the corners of Punk’s lips.

 

“I’m proud of you.”

 

“Proud?”

 

“Yeah. I mean, if we were having this conversation about five months ago, you’d probably be smashing your head against the counter screaming ‘ _I don’t like men, Seth!’_ Y’know, so for you to openly admit to me that you sucked a guy off and slept in his bed, yeah that makes me proud.” Seth says, patting Punk’s arm gently.

 

“You’re such a dork, Seth. Anyway, what about you, what happened after we left?” Seth groans, slapping his palm against his forehead.

 

“I got fucking drunk. Why did I let myself get drunk? You know how it goes. I can’t stop fucking rambling and I’m sure Dean knows literally everything about why I think the 2006 remake of The Wicker Man was really shit. He even walked me home.” Seth remembers everything rather vividly, despite his intoxicated state, and cringes at the thought of what he must have looked like to Dean.

 

“It couldn’t have been that bad, you know; if he walked you home and all. Probably thinks you’re cute.” Punk smirks and Seth glares at him. After last night, Dean couldn’t find Seth cute. He’s not a cute drunk, he’s a rambling mess of a man, and he’s pretty glad he wasn’t at least too far gone. Because he distinctly remembers wanting to kiss Dean, really, really badly. And it would have been far too embarrassing if he had acted on those feelings, so instead he went to bed and took care of himself.

 

“Are we going to the gym today?”

 

“Yeah, was thinking about taking Summer and Layla. Seeing as Layla was like, all knowing and stuff about the guy who it’s named after. And anyway, I don’t see the point in them going to Cena’s if we don’t go there anymore, especially not with what happened last time.” Seth shivers a little, remember how Layla had turned up to his apartment in utter distress. No matter how many times she or Punk tell him it wasn’t his fault, he’ll always blame himself. He’ll always say he should have made time to go to the gym with Layla that day, then it would never have happened, but he was too busy with his ex.

 

“Yeah, but even though Cena can be a right dick, he at least barred Ryback. But yeah, good idea. I’ll call Summer in a bit, then we’ll pick them up when Layla’s finished work. But first, we need to go to the store.” Punk says, downing the rest of his orange juice.

 

Seth raises an eyebrow, “Why?”

 

“Do you not take a look in your own fridge, Seth?” Punk laughs and runs a hand through his hair, “You barely have any food. I honestly don’t know how you lived without me before.” Seth flips him off, because he could take perfect care of himself thank you very much. He just never really needed all that much food in the apartment. He only really ate breakfast here, he ate at work with Kaitlyn who always made the best grilled cheese sandwiches and brought one in for Seth, and most of the time, he went out for dinner with Punk and the girls, or Layla would cook for them all. But taking a look in his fridge sort of proves Punk right, sort of. It’s nearly bare, and he could do with a few things, just in case.

 

After Seth showers, they clamber into Punk’s car and head to the store. Punk’s got the radio turned up high and he sings along and bobs his head as he drives. Seth hasn’t seen Punk this happy in a while, and he didn’t know one or two blowjobs could change his mood so _quickly,_ but obviously it has and Seth’s sort of really happy about it. As much as he loves Punk, it was hard to try and convince him – especially after Antonio – that having feelings for someone was not all bad.

 

Punk pulls into the store parking lot and shakes his head when he catches Seth staring at him.

 

“C’mon dally day dreamer, let’s go.”

 

They end up getting a lot, even though Seth knows he’s probably going to end up throwing most of it away, once Punk starts seeing deals, there’s really no stopping him. They’re putting everything in the trunk of Punk’s car when there’s a gruff laugh from behind.

 

“Well, isn’t this cute. The colouring book rat has a friend.” Seth turns sharply, eyes settling to glare at the guy he remembers from last night as Randy. He’s dressed smartly in a grey shirt and black slacks, his hands are stuffed in his pocket and there’s a smirk plastered on his face.

 

“What’s your problem?” Punk snaps, shutting the trunk with a loud slam. Randy laughs, shifting his stance before his eyes turn dark and he glares at Punk.

 

“Listen to me, rat boy; Reigns is mine, he’s my boy and nothing will ever change that. So I’m not quite sure why you’re wasting your time on him, because eventually he’s going to realise that you’re just a bump in his road and come running back to me, like he always has. But I’ll let you have your time, boy. But don’t get too comfortable.” Randy smiles cockily, and spares Punk a wink. Before Punk can react – because Seth knows he will, and it’ll most likely be messy and they don’t need to get arrested in a parking lot – Seth steps in between the two men.

 

“Right that’s enough, why don’t you,” Seth pokes his finger into Randy’s chest, “Go back to wherever the hell you came from, and we’ll go back to where we came from. There’s a time and a place for this, so just back the fuck off.” Randy snickers, eyes flicking over Seth.

 

“Rat boy’s friend is a smart one, you’re lucky he was here. Not too hard on the eyes either, so yeah, time and place sweet cheeks. See you kids later.” Randy has the audacity to pinch Seth’s cheek before strutting away from them. When Seth turns to Punk, the look on his face will haunt him for a long time. It’s a mixture between seething anger, hurt and utter sadness. He doesn’t say a word as he gets into the driving seat of the car. The ride back to Seth’s apartment is silent, apart from Punk’s insistent fingers drumming on the steering wheel.

 

It’s only when they’re in the kitchen and Seth’s putting the food in the fridge, that Punk finally speaks.

 

“You think there’s anything behind what Randy said?” Punk chews on the end of his thumb nervously, leaning back against the work top. Seth sighs, closing the fridge softly, he moves to stand beside Punk.

 

“Honestly? No.” Seth thinks back to last night, and how Dean mentioned something about it being a while since Roman had been with anyway, and lays a hand on Punk’s shoulder. “I think Randy’s just a jealous ex who doesn’t know when to let go. Roman’s into you man, like really into you I can tell. Are you gonna’ tell him about what happened?” Punk rubs a hand across his face before shrugging.

 

“Maybe. Wouldn’t know how to bring it up, though.” Punk pushes himself away from the kitchen and shakes himself out – like he’s ridding himself of whatever’s going on inside his head – “Come on, get changed and let’s go pick up the girls. If we keep them waiting, we’ll have even more shit to deal with.” Seth knows that Punk’s done with the issue until he sees Roman, so he doesn’t say anything, he just changes and follows his friend out of his apartment.

 

If he’s honest, Seth’s more than a little nervous to go to the gym. Nervous to see Dean, because what if he did do something really stupid last night that he can’t actually remember? He hasn’t been drunk like that in a while, and he’s not quite ready to face the consequences quite yet.

 

 

xXx

 

 

“He’s quiet, is he ok?” Layla asks Seth as they get out of Punk’s car. Punk hadn’t said much since they’d left his apartment; he’d made idle chat with the girls but quickly became silent when they’d got closer to the gym.

 

“We sort of had a run in with this guy earlier who said some stuff about Roman. You know he’s sort of falling for him quicker than he likes to admit and its gotten inside his head, I think he’ll be ok if he talks to Roman about it.”

 

The gym only has a few people in it for a Friday evening, and Seth’s surprised to see Dean lifting weights at the back of the room. Roman however, is near the entrance, refilling a vending machine. When he notices them, and his eyes settle on Punk, his whole face lights up; he places the last bottle of water in and shuts the vending machine closed and locks it up.

 

“Hey,” Punk’s mood visibly softens when Roman’s arms go around him, drawing him close to him.

 

“That’s Roman.” Seth whispers to Summer and Layla who are standing next to him.

 

“He’s cute!” Summer whispers back as Punk and Roman finally break away from each other and turn to them.

 

“Roman, this is Summer and Layla, my two annoying girls.” Summer scowls and slaps at Punk’s arm, who snickers behind his hand.

 

“Why are you always so rude?” She rolls her eyes and offers her hand for Roman to shake. He takes it, and places a small kiss to her knuckles, and does the same with Layla.

 

“Nice to meet you, Punk’s told me a lot about you.”

 

“It’s all lies, whatever he said, it’s all lies!” Summer laughs, gently shoving Punk’s shoulder. Dean joins them then, and introduces himself to Summer and Layla. Summer remembers his name instantly, and shoots Seth a look, one that must be filled with ‘ _he’s cute, let’s keep him!’_ because he doesn’t expect anything less from her.

 

“How was the hangover this morning?” Dean asks with a laugh, running a hand through his slightly sweaty hair. Seth cringes, if Dean’s about to tell him he did something stupid, he doesn’t know whether he wants to hear it or not.

 

“Cruel, haven’t been drunk in a while. I didn’t do anything really embarrassing, did I?”

 

“Oh god no, all I know is that you _really_ hate how over the top Nicholas Cage was in the remake of The Wicker Man.” Dean grins widely and Seth buries his face into his hands, god why did he let Dean give him all that beer? Before he can say anything to convince Dean that he’s not a total blithering idiot, the door behind them is swinging open and a large German Shepherd is bounding through.

 

“My dear boy, how did you manage to make a dog actually like the vets?” A man with an English accent follows behind, dressed smartly in an all black suit. The dog makes a beeline for Dean, and he kneels down so he can run his hands through its fur.

 

“Because she knows she’ll get a reward if she’s good, she’s a clever girl, aren’t you Osamu?”

 

“Healer?” Layla says suddenly, smiling down at the dog. Dean stops stroking the dog and looks up at her, looking slightly shocked before nodding his head.

 

“Yeah it’s Japanese, her full name is Osamu Mamoru, but that’s a bit of a mouthful.”

 

“Healer and protector, you do realise those are male names, though right?” Layla adds, bending down on her own knees to stroke the dog.

 

Dean huffs out a laugh and grins, “Yeah, I do. Didn’t know that when we got her though, and he failed to tell me even though he knew.” Dean points up at the man who came with the dog, and he laughs.

 

“Well, you really liked the name lad, and I think it suits her. I’ll take her outback and feed her.” The man clicks his fingers twice as he passes by and the dog – Osamu – follows him without hesitation. Dean pushes himself from the floor and brushes his hands down his gym shorts.

 

“That was William Regal.” Layla says when he’s gone.

 

“Yep, my old man. Well, not my old man, but still my old man.” Dean says with a grin on his face. And Seth feels a little detail click into place. Dean mentioned that he taught Roman how to fight, and well if William Regal was your old man – Layla said that William Regal was a big, MMA guy back in the nineties – then yeah, you’d know how to fight. Roman and Punk disperse, and Summer and Layla excuse themselves so they can start to warm up before they work out. Dean’s fingers wrap around Seth’s elbow and he pulls him towards the makeshift ring in the corner of the room.

 

“So Roman mentioned that Punk said you did mixed martial arts as a kid, wanna’ show me what you got?” Dean slips through the ropes and Seth follows.

 

“I haven’t done it properly for a while, I’m probably really rusty.” Seth says, but rolls his shoulders anyway, preparing himself like he used to. Dean shrugs while doing the same sort of thing.

 

“We’ll do submissions, you good with those?” Seth nods and bounces on his toes, arms up to guard himself. Dean treads towards his, fists clenched in offense. He throws the first couple of punches and Seth blocks them easily, though he slips up when he lowers his guard slightly and Dean is able to grapple him to the ground. Seth tries his hardest to stay on top, to put Dean in a cross arm lock, but Dean maintains the advantage and manages to put Seth into a knee bar.

 

When they’re both back on their feet – and Seth’s got the feeling back in his knee – they spar again. This time, Seth manages to hold onto the advantage, keeping Dean at bay for the most part. He manages to get Dean into a kimura hold, before hooking his leg over Dean’s shoulder to turn it into an omoplata, which Dean submits to instantly.

 

The in ring sparring and submissions continues for a while, until Dean and Seth have made each other tap out an equal amount of times.

 

“When did you start?” Dean asks him when they’re getting water.

 

“When I was seven, my dad wanted something for me do while my parents were at work. Really got into it in the end. You?”

 

“Regal taught me since I was a kid, was just the normal. You’re really good, though. Like I literally thought you were going to snap my arm off,” Dean laughs, pretending to inspect his arm. Seth just laughs and tries to hide the blush forming on his cheeks. Seth notices Punk and Roman over by the weights, subtly trying to hide while they kiss.

 

Dean pokes Seth in the ribs with his finger. “Are you Punk and the girls doing anything tonight?”

 

“Don’t think so, why?”

 

“Come back here at ten, bring blankets.”

 

 

xXx

 

 

“What are we doing again?” Summer asks, struggling to make her way through the sand while carrying blankets and her bag. Punk decides to be a decent human being, and takes some of the blankets from her.

 

“We’re beach camping, ever done it before?” Roman asks, holding the torch out in front of him. Dean’s up ahead with Osamu, because he knows the exact place the use every time, apparently.

 

“Nope, I’m used to using the beach in the day and I’ve only ever been camping once.” Summer explains, gripping onto Layla’s arm when she almost trips on her own foot.

 

“You’ll love it, promise!” Dean calls, before finally saying they’re at the spot. The six of them settle down and Roman makes a fire, clearly showing off to Punk, and Dean lays the blankets down for all of them.

 

Dean’s lying next to him, and it’s way past midnight now and he can feel Dean’s fingers tracing patterns on his hand. Osamu is curled up at their feet.

 

“This is nice, haven’t seen the stars like this for a while.” Seth whispers, aware that nearly all of the others are asleep.

 

“Roman and I come most weekends, just to get away for a bit. And Osamu likes the beach, too.” The two are silent again, before Dean slips his hand into Seth’s.

 

“Night Seth.”

 

“Night Dean.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seth goes to kick him again, because he really hates it when Randy runs his mouth, but then there's arms going around his waist, pulling him away. 
> 
> "C'mon Seth, that's enough now. He's got the message. Get up, asshole, go lick your fucking wounds and don't bother us again." Dean says, his breath close to Seth's ear. It's weird, how the rage and anger inside of Seth suddenly seems to melt away as Dean's arms stay wrapped around his body. It's like the animal, the fire breathing monster, crawls back inside his cage and curls up, ready for sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i'm very, very sorry this is so late and so short. i had a bit of a mental block with this and i started college today so i was really nervous and yeah, life gets in the way sometimes. but here we are! we're one step closer to finding out the deal with seth/antonio, more seth/dean moments too! but for now i leave you with this. and if you'd like, i started a writing challenge on my tumblr psychrollins so please go check that out!!! i'd really love some of you to enter! but if you don't, you can still send me messages and prompts and what not!

Seth feels like he’s in some sort of fourth dimension. Because about three months ago, Punk was sprawled across his sofa, screaming bloody murder about how he was definitely not into guys, and that guy who sucked him off in the bathroom of a bar was a complete mistake (he couldn’t even blame it on the alcohol, because he doesn’t drink.) And now, Punk’s sprawled out on his sofa with this sort of happy, floaty look on his face as he explains that Roman’s really fucking big. 

And Seth doesn’t want to know all that sort of information about their rapidly increasing sex life, but he’s going to let Punk off just this once, because he’s finally being open about something extremely personal. 

“That reminds me, we’re all going out tonight to the bar across from the gym.” Punk says, playing with the hem of his shirt. Seth fixes him with a glare, wanting to know why he’s only just been told about this. 

“And you’re telling me this now?” Punk grins sheepishly before shrugging his shoulders. 

“I sorta’ maybe forgot.” 

 

Seth rolls his eyes, pushing himself from the armchair. “Yeah, too busy thinking about Roman’s dick!” He shouts, heading into his bedroom. He can almost hear Punk’s cheeks flush pink. 

“But Seth!” He whines, “It’s really fucking big!” 

 

xXx

 

“You guys are really insufferable, will you cut it out?” Dean rolls his eyes at Punk and Roman, who are flirting so shamelessly it’s definitely sickening. 

“Shut up and drink your beer, Deano.” Roman scowls at him before turning back to Punk, delving back into their conversation. Dean flips him off, though Roman doesn’t notice, before turning to Seth. 

“Hey I was meaning to ask you something, did you ever think about fighting professionally?” 

“I thought about it when I was like, eighteen, but I didn’t have the money to pursue it, so I never did. Did you?" Seth takes a sip of his beer, and takes in Dean's face. He's known Dean and Roman for about a month know, and his lifes sort of consisted of only four things. Going to work, fighting, going to the gym, and going to bars with Dean. And he's pretty sure that you shouldn't fancy your best friend's boyfriend's best friend. But he really does, and that urge he had to kiss Dean the first time they went met gets stronger. 

"I was gonna', you know following in William's footsteps and all, but just as I was gonna' go up to the big leagues, shit happened and my dream ended." Dean says, shrugging his shoulders, though Seth can see there's a saddness in his eyes that runs deeper than just a shrug of the shoulders. Seth wants to know what it is, but doesn't push it, if Dean wanted to tell him, he would have. 

"I'll give it up one day, the fighting. But I don't know when. It's my only vice at the moment, I've not really got anything else in my life to look forward to." Seth picks at the label on his beer and feels Dean's eyes on him. 

"C'mon Seth, your life can't be that boring?" 

Seth huffs out a laugh and then shrugs, "If you don't think that getting up and going to work, going to the gym, having a fight and then going to bed just to repeat the whole process is boring then there's something wrong with you." Dean frowns at him before sighing. 

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I could say the same thing though. If I didn't love working at the gym, I'd probably be bored stiff too." Seth's about to say something, but the sudden change in Dean's face makes him close his mouth. The softness has gone, replaced with anger set hard in his eyes. 

"Well isn't this nice?" Seth hears from behind him. He's only heard the voice a couple of times, but he recognises it instantly. 

"Randy, what the hell do you want?" Dean growls, and Seth can hear the anger rumble through every word. 

"Don't get your panties in a twist Ambrose, I'm only came over to say hello to the pretty one sat in front of you." Dean's face gets harder, and he goes to say something - probably something threatening - but Seth beats him to it. 

"What do you want, Randy? Cos' whatever it is, I'm not fucking interested." Anger flashes across Randy's face, and Seth's pretty sure he's not used to being told no. 

"Shame, that. Cos' I could show you a real good time, princess. I'd know exactly what you like." Randy purrs, Seth's gut twists in disgust. 

"You know nothing about me." 

"Oh is that so?" Randy raises an eyebrow, a smirk spreading across his face. "Cos' Antonio's been pretty good at passing his notes to those who missed the class." It normally takes a lot to make Seth snap, normally takes a lot more than a few half assed threats for him to swap from Seth to the other guy inside him. Before Randy can even blink, Seth's twisting his arm behind his back and slamming his head down onto the table. The noise and Randy's groan of pain draws the whole room to look at them, but all Seth can feel is the heavy heat of anger thrum through his body. 

"How do you fucking know him?" Seth hisses, close to Randy's ear. Randy shouldn't be smirking, because he's the one pressed against the table, but he is. 

"I did my research princess. Turns out, you've got one hell of a kinky side." Randy starts to laugh, though it turns into a splutter when Seth smashes his head off the table. 

"Hey! If you're gonna' fight, take it outside, don't do it in my bar!" A barman shouts, and Seth grabs hold of the collar of Randy's shirt, dragging him through the crowd. He's aware of the others, and some randomers following him, but he's totally focused on the cussing man he's got hold of. 

The cold air hits him as soon as he steps out the door, adding a fizzle to his anger. Seth shoves Randy up against the wall, and though Randy's just taller than him, he stares him down. "Don't worry princess, your secrets are safe with me, you know for a price," Seth brings his fist across Randy's face, feeling satisfied with the cracking sound the impact makes. 

"What the hell do you want?" 

Randy laughs, pushing his hips against Seth's so Seth can feel his hard length inside his jeans. "You know what I want, princess." Seth growls, thrusting his knee into Randy's grion before slamming his head against the wall. He lets him go, letting Randy's body fall to floor, curled in on himself in pain. 

"Tell the fucking world for all I care, just stay the hell away from me." Seth snarls, kicking Randy in the stomach for a final time. Through a mouth of blood, Randy manages to smirk. His eyes flick away from Seth, over to Roman whose standing with his mouth open at the whole ordeal. 

"Gotta hand it to you Roman, your little rat boy's friend is certainly fiesty. But I've always liked them with a bit of fight in them. Don't think this is over Reigns," Randy spits blood onto the floor beside him, "Cos' you're gonna come running back like you did before."  
Seth goes to kick him again, because he really hates it when Randy runs his mouth, but then there's arms going around his waist, pulling him away. 

"C'mon Seth, that's enough now. He's got the message. Get up, asshole, go lick your fucking wounds and don't bother us again." Dean says, his breath close to Seth's ear. It's weird, how the rage and anger inside of Seth suddenly seems to melt away as Dean's arms stay wrapped around his body. It's like the animal, the fire breathing monster, crawls back inside his cage and curls up, ready for sleep. 

Randy pulls himself from the ground and brushes himself down. 

"I've said it once, and I'll say it again. This," Randy motions between himself and Roman, "Isn't over. Believe that." He turns quickly on his heels, strutting away into the darkness. There's a heavy silence, the few people that followed them out disperse, some going back inside the bar while others cross the parking lot and head for home. 

Seth's still very aware of Dean's warm body pressed against his back, strong arms wrapped around his waist. There's only a quiet anger there now, buzzing through his body like a small electric current. He can see it all in his head, Antonio and Randy, talking about him. Antonio telling him everything, their whole relationsip - if Seth can even call it that - spread out for Randy to pick at. 

"You OK Seth?" Punk finally asks, voice quiet in the night air. Seth lets out a long, shakey breath before nodding. 

"Yeah, think so." Seth says, and he feels Dean's arms squeeze him just a little bit tighter. 

"You know I don't think I've ever seen anyone other than Regal have so much control over him." Roman comments, still wide eyed. Dean releases him then, turning him around the check on Seth's face, though Randy never threw a punch.

"Do you really think he knows, Seth?" Punk's voice is quiet, addressing the elephant in the room, Seth sighs. 

"Yeah, yeah he knows." 

"How can you be sure, Seth? Randy's a good liar." Roman says, his tone hopeful, but Seth just gives him a sad look.

"Because Antonio used to call me princess."


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I can't believe anyone would do that, shit. You were right for punching him; hope it fucking broke his face in half, too." Dean says, fingers trailing over Seth's hand. Neither of them acknowledges that this is happening. Just like they didn't acknowledge the fact that they'd fallen asleep holding hands at the beach. Seth feels something shift, in a moment where Dean's fingers interlace with his own. He can hear Roman and Punk flirting over by the grill, their soft smooth voices lulling him into a sleepy calm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to apologize for the long wait on this chapter, life sort of got in the way so I wasn't able to really sit down and edit and stuff. But here I am and here is chapter 5. Albeit a little short, but crucial. More on the Seth/Antonio ((props for noticing that I use Antonio as Seth's ex in nearly everything)) a bit more of Dean/Seth and the whole Seth/Mox thing. Any comments/crit here or on my tumblr ((psychrollins) are greatly appreciated and I thank you for your continued support, you're all so wonderful!!

The cool night air blows across Seth's face as he tips his head back in the chair. Dean's wrapping his knuckles up, he hadn't even noticed that they'd split until Dean had pointed it out. They're at Dean and Roman's now, none of them were in the mood to go back into the bar after the small altercation with Randy, so Roman proposed that they fire up the grill in the garden and have a night time grill. Punk's been making sure that he's alright ever since they left the bar, and though he tells him countless times that he is, he's not really.

 

 

He can't understand why Antonio would do something like that, and why would Randy even bother finding out his past relationship? Seth flexes his hand, feeling the tight gauze around his knuckles and sighs.

 

 

"You alright, Seth?" Dean asks in a quiet voice, fingers running gently over the tapping on Seth's knuckles.

 

 

Seth shivers, "No." He opens his eyes to see Dean on his knees in front of him, eyes soft and warm.

 

 

"You wanna tell me about it?"

 

 

Seth thinks for a moment. He hasn't talked about Antonio since he told Summer and Layla about what had happened between them, he knows though that what happened tonight leaves some burning questions, and that he may as well try and answer them.

 

 

"Yeah, yeah I think I should." Dean nods, pulling a chair beside Seth's and staying quiet, letting Seth compose himself.

 

 

"I met Antonio at a bar two years ago, he was nice you know, buying me drinks and stuff. I wasn't that interested to start, just sort of liked him as someone to hang out with." Seth sighs, thinking back to the night he met Antonio.

 

 

"He kept trying though, and I eventually agreed to go on a date with him." Seth clenches and unclenches his fist subconsciously. "We were dating for going on a year, and I was sort of starting to think that this was the guy I was going to spend the rest of my life with, y'know?" Seth closes his eyes a pain hitting his chest. He sucks in a long breath, and feels Dean's hand on his own. He doesn't shake it off.

 

 

"And then, then I found out he wasn't actually into me, not even a little bit." Dean looks at him confused and Seth swallows the lump in his throat. "I found out, from one of his friends who I'd actually gotten pretty close to, that he only started to date me because he struck up a bet with his friends. If I remember rightly, he was allowed to use his friends beach hut if he got me into bed. Got to use it for a week if he could start a relationship with me, and everything was paid for it the relationship lasted longer than six months." Seth suddenly feels like there's a small weight been lifted from his shoulders. The hurt is still there, buried deep inside him, but he's let it out and that helps, even if it's just a little bit.

 

 

Dean's face contorts from sad to an angry scowl, "Are you serious?"

 

Seth nods, a sarcastic laugh dripping from his mouth. "Yep. As soon as I found out I confronted him about it. He admitted it all, but said he did have feelings for me. I couldn't look at him, everything about him made me feel sick. Why would he do that? Why would you toy with someone's emotions for a fucking holiday? So I punched him in the face and I haven't seen him since." He looks down at his split knuckles, wrapped up, pretty much identical to what Punk had done when he'd hit Antonio and the familiarity of the situation washes over him in waves.

 

 

"I can't believe anyone would do that, shit. You were right for punching him; hope it fucking broke his face in half, too." Dean says, fingers trailing over Seth's hand. Neither of them acknowledges that this is happening. Just like they didn't acknowledge the fact that they'd fallen asleep holding hands at the beach. Seth feels something shift, in a moment where Dean's fingers interlace with his own. He can hear Roman and Punk flirting over by the grill, their soft smooth voices lulling him into a sleepy calm.  

 

 

xXx

 

 

Seth wakes up totally confused. In front of him is not his usual alarm clock, it's a lamp. There's somebody warm pressed against his back and an arm is slung over his waist. It takes him a moment or two to realize that he never went home last night. It's Dean's room, and the body pressed against him is Dean too. Nothing happened last night, despite that he's in Dean's bed dressed in only a pair of gym shorts. There's a moment that flutters in Seth's brain that wishes something had happened last night, because he hasn't felt anything like that for a long time, and waking up next to Dean is doing all sorts of funny things to the butterflies in his stomach.

 

Dean shifts behind him, groaning a little as he begins to wake. His grip around Seth's waist tightens a little before he loses his quickly, pushing himself away.

 

 

"Shit, m'sorry, didn't know I was doing that." Dean mumbles, voice deep and raspy and full of sleep. Seth turns to face him, catching Dean's wrists and settling his hands back on his hips. Dean's eyes widen slightly, full of curiosity.

 

 

"It's OK, I don't mind." He says quietly. Dean bites his lip before nodding, fingers curling around Seth's hips once more.

 

 

"You feelin' better?"

 

 

"Yeah, yeah I am. Felt good to get it off my chest."

 

 

"We ever see him, you know I think you should do more than punch him in the face. You should put him in one of those omplata holds, break his fuckin' arms off." Dean grins when Seth laughs.

 

 

"I probably should, he never did like me fighting." Dean raises his eyebrows and Seth shrugs.

 

 

"Always said that it was pointless and barbaric. Didn't stop me doing it though." Seth explains.

 

 

"Good. It might be a little barbaric, but it's not pointless. It's taught me a lot, don't know where I'd be without fighting, honestly." Seth nods, understanding perfectly. His life would be nothing without it.

 

 

"You at work today?"

 

 

Seth shakes his head, smiling a little. "Nah, I have two days off. Long weekend." Dean grins in response.

 

 

"If you fancy it, we can do something in the ring? I think William's dropping in later, you can meet him properly." Seth studies Dean's face, which is full of something that he can't read, before nodding. He takes his bottom lip between his teeth and tries to hide the grin that's threatening to form on his face.

 

 

"That sounds good." Dean smiles and lets out a long breath. He looks so soft and unguarded like this, and Seth really wants to kiss him. He's got a habit now, of finding the most random and inappropriate times to think about kissing Dean.

 

 

"Yeah? Great. Eh, we should go and get the love birds up too, Roman's grouchy if he doesn't get breakfast before nine." Dean smiles fondly before slipping from the bed. He pulls on his own t-shirt and Seth does the same, following Dean out of the room. It's not a long walk from Dean's room to Roman's and his door is open just a crack. Dean's about to barge in, when Seth grabs onto his wrist.

 

 

"What if they're naked, and you know, in a moment?"

 

 

Dean huffs out a laugh. "Have you seen Punk naked before?" Blushing slightly, Seth nods. "Well, I've seen Roman naked too. So who cares? I'd rather see them naked than have Roman bitch at me all day because I didn't cook him breakfast." Seth shrugs then, letting go of Dean's wrist and letting him step into Roman's room. They're not naked, well at least not visibly naked, the both of them are curled up together under Roman's sheets, a tangle of limbs in each others arms. It's heartwarming and sickening at the same time. Dean allows them a few more moments of peace, before opening his mouth wide and screaming Roman's name.

 

 

"Roman! Time to get up you lazy shit!" Roman jumps in the bed, startled, eyes snapping open before groaning.

 

 

"Fucking hell Dean, a little privacy wouldn't go a miss." Roman mumbles, hand dragging across his sleep hazed face.

 

"Whatever, I ain't dealing with your grouchy ass so either get up or you don't get breakfast." Dean skips out of the room, narrowly missing the pillow that Roman throws at him.

 

 

The rest of the morning goes smoothly. Dean cooks all four of them breakfast, and Seth is happy to sit and watch them converse in pointless bickering. Punk sits there with a soft, floaty look on his face and Seth makes a mental note to tease him about it when he gets the chance. My half past nine, Punk leaves for work and Roman heads down to the gym to make sure the morning staff have opened up properly. Dean gives Seth a clean pair of gym shorts and one of the gym's own t-shirts before they too head up.

 

 

Seth works out while Dean takes care of a few things (actual paperwork, Roman says with a wink.) An hour later, they're locked up in the ring. They have similar fighting styles, though Dean's a little more sporadic. He's different to everyone Seth's ever locked up with before. He's got strength, but unlike everyone else he doesn't try to use it against Seth, who is the smaller of the two. He works on countering Seth's moves, which he's good at, and Seth has to raise his game like he hasn't ever had to before. But Seth can tell that Dean's not giving everything away. He can tell by the way that Dean quickly changes a move to something simpler, like he's trying to keep something hidden.

 

 

He's just caught Dean in a flying scissor heel hook, when there's a slow, loud clapping from behind. Seth untangles himself from Dean slowly, trying not to hurt him unnecessarily. 

 

 

William Regal stands outside of the ring, dressed smartly in a black suit. His hands are now stuffed in his pockets and he's wearing a brilliant smirk, Seth has no idea how long he's been standing there.

 

"Well Mr Rollins, that was very impressive. I don't think I've ever seen anyone other than Dean execute such precise move sets." Dean clasps his shoulder in approval before heading to the vending machine to grab them a water each.

 

 

"You're quite the fighter, Seth."

 

 

"Thank you Mr Regal, that means a lot." Regal pulls his one hand from his pocket and scratches at his chin.

 

 

"Tell me lad, have you ever considered professional mixed martial arts?" Dean returns and hands Seth a bottle of water.

 

 

"I did when I was a kid, but I never had the money to really pursue it."

 

 

Regal hums, eyes flickering over to Dean for a moment before settling back onto Seth. "Well, I think you'd make a great Toughest Man In The World, if I do say so myself." He smiles, patting Seth on the back before slowly walking away. Dean grins at him, lips wrapping around the lid of his water bottle.

 

"When the old man gives you his seal of approval, you know you're good, Seth." Seth watches as Regal goes behind the counter, flicking through paperwork and talking to the odd members of staff that pass him by.

 

They carry on in the ring for a while, only stopping for short water breaks and occasional break downs of move sets. It's around three in the afternoon when Layla shows up.

 

 

"Seth Rollins you have a fucking mobile, don't you ever answer it?" Seth steps out of the ring and sips from his water.

 

 

"Sorry Lay, it's in my bag over there. What's up?" Layla rolls her eyes before she breaks into a grin.

 

 

"Dolph called, he want's a fight tomorrow night." 

 

 

"Yeah? Didn't he like, break his ribs or something not long ago?" Seth asks, though he's not ready to turn down a fight.

 

 

"Say's he's all healed up and he's ready to fight. You're apparently the only person that's worth fighting at the moment, called me up this morning. Wants to fight for a prize, though." Layla says with a twinkle in her eye. He hasn't seen her quite like this before. Dolph's always fighting for prizes that he often wins, they're never actually worth winning though.

 

 

"Mhm, that sounds like Dolph," Seth says, "What's the prize this time, then?"

 

 

Layla claps her hands together and grins, "The winner gets call out rights."

 

 

Seth blinks, confused. "Call out rights?"

 

 

"Who ever wins, gets call out rights, they can call out anyone one they want and the loser can't get involved." Layla explains. Seth still doesn't really get why that's such a good prize, if he wants to fight you, he'll do it, he doesn't need call out rights.

 

 

"I call out whoever I want anyway, s'not much of a prize, Lay."

 

 

Layla rolls her eyes, placing her hands on her hips. "Seth, are you dumb? Do you not see what Dolph is doing here?"

 

 

"No, I don't."

 

 

"Dolph's setting the fight, if you accept, at Donovan's gym warehouse on 8th street. It's gonna' be big Seth, loads of people are going to turn up. And if you win?" Layla pauses, gauging Seth's reaction before grinning.

 

 

"If you win, he's gonna help you call out Mox."


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: HEY! long time no read, I know. But I kinda lost my mojo for this then i went away for a while, but i'm back now with motivation, yay!!!! so yes this will be continued, so please (i hope you're still reading this!) comment/review/like/kudos/favourite bookmark whatever!! it makes me smile!! also come talk to me on tumblr: psychrollins and check out my two rolleigns fics, Gravity and Rejects! :D - georgia x.

“So you’re on that too, then.” Dean says once Layla has left, Seth turns to see Dean rubbing the back of his neck, trying to smile. 

“On what?” Seth asks, though he knows what Dean’s talking about. It’s not rocket science that everyone knows about everyone wanting to fight Mox. Some say it’s stupid, others say it’s courageous. 

“Wanting to fight Mox?” Seth shrugs, perching on the side of the ring beside Dean. 

“I guess so. I mean, wouldn’t be completely heartbroken if I never got to fight him, but it’s something I’d like to do before I stopped fighting.” Dean nods, like he understands, his face suddenly falls serious. 

“A word of advice, think about it before you call him out. Mox is, he’s not a normal human being. Once you get him in that place, you’ve got no idea of what he’s capable of. Hell, I don’t even think he knows what he’s capable of. And you’re good at what you do Seth, like really good, but I want you to understand fully what you’re getting yourself into before you start calling him out, OK?” Seth nods, because he does understand, he’s not even sure if he’s ready to call him out just yet, but he’s still going to ahead with Dolph’s fight. He’ll just make sure Dolph’s offer of help will still stand when he’s ready. 

A bright smile suddenly flashes across Dean’s face and he shoves Seth’s arm lightly. “C’mon, let’s go and find Roman, pretty sure it’s time for his break.” 

 

xXx

 

“So girls, are you going to come and see Seth tonight?” Punk asks, passing Summer her bottle of water. 

Summer makes a face, “I dunno’, I hate seeing my little Sethie all bloody and bruised.” She reaches over and pinches his cheeks. Seth swats her hands away, mumbling something about not liking the name ‘Sethie’. 

“C’mon babe, Seth needs the support. Plus, you’ll be watching television on your own if you don’t go, cos’ I’m not missing this, big fight.” Layla chimes, giggling when Summer makes an annoyed face. 

“Fine, I guess I’ll come. But as soon as Seth starts bleeding, I’m out.” 

“So what’s the plan Seth?” Punk asks, directing his attention away from the two girls. 

Seth’s cheeks colour slightly, “Meeting Dean at the gym at half nine, getting in half an hour warm up before heading to the warehouse.” Punk smirks, eyes crinkling at the corners. 

“What?” 

“Nothing nothing just, you and Dean huh?” Seth rolls his eyes, though he can feel his face flushing. After their lock up in the ring yesterday, they’d spent a fair amount of time just talking, and Seth found that the sudden urge to kiss Dean got stronger whenever he was around him. It was embarrassing to say the least. 

“Oh my God, Punk just drop it OK? There’s nothing going on, Jesus.” Punk raises his arms up in mock defence, but it doesn’t wipe the smirk from his face. Seth rolls his eyes and fishes his phone from his pocket. He quickly replies to Kaitlyn’s message and tries to ignore the nauseas feeling growing in the pit of his stomach. Tonight’s fight against Dolph is possibly the biggest he’s had yet, the possibility of having someone much respected in the fighting community helping him call out the one person that Seth thinks might beat him, well it weighs heavy on his shoulders. If he loses tonight, in front of everyone, it will get back to Mox somehow. Then the guy will never want to fight him. 

Seth sighs, scrubbing a hand down his face. Summer, Layla and Punk are caught up in some kind of squabble about probably nothing so Seth pushes himself out of his chair, heading to the bathroom for a shower. 

 

~

 

The gym is completely empty when he gets there, but Dean’s left the door unlocked for him. Seth’s setting his bag down next to the ring and wrapping the tape around his wrists when he hears Dean’s voice from the other side. Regal and Roman are with him, and though he’s grateful of the support, he’s a little nervous to be fighting in front of Regal. 

Layla had brought him up to speed with just who Regal was back in the nineties, a very successful mixed martial arts fighter who pretty much dominated the scene throughout his whole career. He’s won the Toughest Man in the World competition on multiple occasions, and even broken a few limbs and ended a few careers. Fighting in front of him seems daunting, even if the man himself has told him he’s good. Alas, Seth gets into the ring with Dean and begins to warm up with him. 

They start with some simple knee hugs and twists, before moving onto both backward and drop lunges. Dean takes him through a three part workout slash warm-up that covers probably every muscle in his body. He should feel tired, considering its one hell of a warm up, but instead he only feels exhilarated and completely at one with his own body. He has faith in the strength of it like he never has had before. Dean’s treating him like this is the fight of his life, helping him work on his strategy once he’s warmed up, with Regal chipping in some extra advice. 

It is the fight of his life, really; because if he wins this, then he’s going to earn a hell of a lot of respect. Dolph is probably one of the best fighters out there at the moment, beating him would not only prove to people that Seth is also one of the best, it would also prove that he’s worthy to fight Mox, if the man ever shows himself. 

Handing him a bottle of water, Dean puts an arm around his shoulders. “You ready for this?” he asks in a calm, quiet voice. Seth nods, taking a sip from the bottle. 

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” Dean squeezes his shoulder and heads off to talk to Roman. It leaves him alone in the main area of the gym with Regal. The older man is standing looking at the ring with a wistful look present on his features. Regal turns to him, seemingly sensing that Dean has left his side, and beckons him to stand by his side. 

“Seth, I have all the faith in the world in you tonight, you’re going to win.” Regal says, hands tucked into the pocks of his black slacks. “Do you know why?” 

Seth shakes his head, “No, not really.” He says with a slight laugh. Regal smiles at him. 

“Because I see a man, who has a dream buried right deep down inside of him, in a corner he does not even know exists, fighting with every fibre of his being just to keep it alive. Maybe he doesn’t know what that dream is, but there’s something inside of him in a deep corner that’s telling him to fight. It’s all he really knows, and so a measly task like this is nothing to him, sure there will be nerves and some doubt, but in the end, the dream, that’s what unlocks that knockout blow that keeps them down for the count of 10.” 

Seth raises his eyebrow at Regal, he can’t really make sense of anything the man just said, he’s pretty sure that Regal told him he was good, however unclear, he appreciates the sentiment all the same. Regal turns and puts his arm around Seth’s shoulder, leading him towards where Dan and Roman are. He leans close into Seth. 

“When you win tonight, remember only this. If the tiger and the dragon fight, then they will both die.” Regal squeezes his shoulder before bidding him a farewell and heading to the basement. Before Seth even has time to process what the man has said to him, Dean and Roman are by his side, herding him towards their car. Punk, Layla and Summer are meeting them at the warehouse, so when Seth gets into the car (after Roman forced him to sit up front next to Dean), it feels a little strange not to have Punk beside him. But he’s not complaining; the easy back and forth conversation between Dean and Roman helps calm Seth’s nerves (but it only partially distracts him from the cryptic words Regal said to him earlier.

“Jesus, looks like half the state turned up.” Dean says, pulling the car onto the curb, it’s a tight squeeze for the big car, but Dean works with it, seeing as its one of the only available spaces left on the street. 

The three of them pile out of the car and head down a back street before ducking into the back of the warehouse. Punk, Layla and Summer are stood in the far corner talking to Dolph and a small dark haired girl Seth’s never seen before. 

“Who’s the girl?” Seth asks Dean, who’s stood so close to him that their arms touch. 

“That’s AJ, guess she’s ref tonight.” 

“There he is!” Punk notices the three of them approaching and a big grin stretches across his face. Seth knows that the main reason for that smile is the tall, dark, handsome Samoan man standing next to him, and he can’t help but grin too. 

 

xXx

 

His fight with Dolph has been going on for a good fifteen minutes at the least, and Seth knows that Dolph is already the hardest opponent he’s ever had the pleasure to face. He’s so much quicker than the likes of Brad Maddox and Johnny Curtis, that halfway through, when Dolph hits an insanely hard right hook that he does think twice about calling Mox out. If he’s finding this hard, then beating a man much more feared than Dolph will be near impossible. 

But Seth keeps fighting. And for some reason, the words from Regal back at the gym resonate inside of his head the whole time. Because he could easily give up, it’s so easy, but something inside of him doesn’t let him. Something wills his legs to stand back up every time he’s knocked down, shocking both himself and everyone around him. 

Half an hour in and the two are still fighting. Dolph’s cut open pretty bad, but not as bad as Seth. His right eye is swollen completely shut, there’s blood gushing from his nose and his lip (to which he’s pretty sure he heard Summer let out a loud cry the moment it started, he’s too focused to look and see whether she’s still there) and there’s a burning pain in his ribs, which means they’re probably broken. 

But he’s not giving up, not now he’s made a large dent in Dolph’s armour. There was something his father used to say to him on the days of his competitions when he was a kid. “All it takes is one crack for the whole thing to come crumbling down.” As he gets a kick to connect to his ribs, he knows he’s made that crack. All he has to do now is keep going until Dolph finally crumbles, and by the dazed, faraway look that’s nestled itself on his opponents features, he knows it can’t be too far away. 

 

X

 

Seth’s right, five minutes later, Dolph manages to get up on the count of 8, wobbling slightly before lunging at him. Dolph manages to get his arms around Seth, attempting to do some weird move that would probably end up with Seth being a mangled mess on the floor. But Seth’s still got the edge, although he can only see out of one eye, he’s fresher than Dolph and manages to reverse the move quickly. He pushes himself from Dolph’s grip and wraps his own arms around him, sending his knee into the man’s ribs. Dolph hunches over in pain, kneeling down on the floor and wrapping his arms around his midsection. 

It’s now or never. Seth takes his chance, rearing back and sending his foot down onto the back of Dolph’s head. There’s a thud and then a silence before AJ’s sweet voice begins the 10 count. When she gets to seven, Dolph begins to stir, but it’s clear when she reaches 9 that there’s no time for the blonde to get up. When the ten slips from her lips, the whole crowd cheers and Seth stares at the mess of a man below him. 

Seth Rollins, still undefeated. He can’t believe it.


End file.
